George provided the overall Museum leadership and trustee management necessary to garner approval for an international repatriation of 30 vigango, or memorial statues, to the Mijikenda of coastal Kenya. The Mijikenda believe vigango embody the soul of deceased elders, and the Museum’s belief is that it should not be in the business of curating souls. After a 12-year effort, that repatriation was successfully consummated in 2019. In 2016, the Museum lent three Russian gem-carving sculptures by Vasily Konovalenko from its collection to the Moscow Kremlin Museums for a three-month exhibition. Believing that Museums are fundamentally about sharing culture, George approved the loan at a time when most American museums refused to loan objects to the Russian Federation.

Additionally, George participates in the G12 – a formal group of 12 of the largest natural history Museums in the U.S. – exchanging ideas and best practices on critical topics such as integrating collections and repatriating cultural artifacts to colonized peoples.